Netanyahu hails Trump’s ‘incredible first year’ of second term

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday congratulated U.S. President Donald Trump on what he called “an incredible first year” of his second term in office.

“Congratulations to President [Trump] and the United States of America for an incredible first year of a second term—A year like no other,” Netanyahu wrote on X, sharing a photo of the two from their recent meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Trump was sworn in on Jan. 20, 2025, returning to the White House after four years out of office and becoming the first former president in 132 years to secure a second nonconsecutive term.

During his first term, the president moved the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights and said Jewish civilian communities in Judea and Samaria are not inconsistent with international law.

He also helped broker the Abraham Accords, a series of normalization agreements that established formal diplomatic ties between Jerusalem and several Arab and Muslim nations, beginning with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain and later joined by Sudan, Morocco and Kazakhstan.

Since returning to the White House, Trump joined Israel in strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities during a 12-day war with Tehran in June and mediated a ceasefire-and-hostages agreement with Hamas in Gaza.

Following meetings with Netanyahu last month, Trump praised the premier for guiding the Jewish state to victory over “a force the likes of which very few countries could have handled,” telling JNS that under other leadership, Israel “might not exist right now.”

“He’s a wartime prime minister,” the U.S. president said of Netanyahu, responding to a JNS query about his relationship with Israel’s longtime premier. “He’s taken Israel through a very dangerous period of drama.”